Aaron's Leap

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Platzová’s prose is sharp and effective, creating a powerfully elegiac narrative. This deeply moving portrait explores love, sacrifice, and the transformative power of art amid brutal uncertainty. Based on the true story of Bauhaus artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, the narrative unfolds through a twenty-first-century Israeli film crew investigating her extraordinary life. Dicker-Brandeis taught art to children in the Nazi transport camp of Terezín before her tragic death in Auschwitz. With the help of a former pupil’s granddaughter, the filmmakers uncover buried secrets from a time when personal and artistic choices were matters of life and death. Spanning a century of Central European history, the novel reflects the foundations of the European Modernist movement, featuring characters inspired by Oskar Kokoschka, Alma Mahler, and Franz Werfel. It illustrates the struggle to confront a troubled past, take risks, and embrace one’s true self. Magdaléna Platzová, raised in Prague and now residing in Lyon, France, has taught literature at NYU and authored a children’s book, two short story collections, and three novels. This work, a finalist for the Lidové Noviny Book of the Year Award, has been recognized as one of the best contemporary Czech novels and is her first published in English.